Reclamation
by adriannewhitt
Summary: "It hit her like a dragon of the apocalypse: she was in love with him." Lucy has a massive revelation just before Fairy Sphere activates, and seven years later, everything is different. Rated M for language and explicit content. NaLu pairing.
1. Intoxicated

**Chapter 1: Intoxicated**

* * *

The wood grain of the weathered table below her head had begun to blur an hour ago, but someone (Cana?) had kept putting drinks in her hands anyway. And Lucy wasn't one to turn away the distraction – what did they call it? Drowning your sorrows? She guessed that was what she was doing. And, it was easy enough to blend into the background while yet another bout of merriment about their return from Tenrou Island raged around her. Not that she wasn't happy to be back, and thankful that those seven years hadn't snatched these evenings of raucous laughter and chaos away from her, like they'd taken her father…

 _So much_ had changed, disappeared in the blink of an eye for her – it had been seven years and ten days since she'd stood in her circle of friends, clutching Natsu and Gray's hands, feeling the bond that linked them all together burning in the emblem on her hand. She'd squeezed her eyes closed, not wanting any more tears to well up and shame her, and had taken one last breath, leaning a little to her left to catch Natsu's wood smoke and salt smell, the way he always smelled after battle. It reminded her of home.

Then…BOOM. The calamity of a lifetime – it clicked into place, an eighth of a moment before Fairy Sphere activated and sucked seven years from her world. She thought she was going to die and her last thoughts were of Natsu – how he'd never find Igneel, how Romeo would be heartbroken if he never came back, how she would never know a future with him, never see his smile again. And how grateful she was that, at the very least, they would die and face oblivion side-by-side. It hit her like a dragon of the apocalypse: she was in love with him.

But, mercifully, there hadn't been any time to sort through things then. Achnologia saw to it that the realization was all she got, one thing for which she could be thankful to the monster. Unfortunately, she woke up seven years later playing a huge game of catch-up, only made bigger by… _this thing._ This big, awful, wonderful thing she couldn't talk about, for fear that he would find out, and then even _more_ would change, for the worse she was certain. She knew Natsu didn't think of her that way.

So, she kept drinking the acrid, bitter liquid Cana filled her glasses with, watching Gildarts hang on the other woman with a weird sort of jealousy. What she wouldn't give for a few more moments with _her_ parents. But they were gone, and unlike what happened to all of her guildmates on the island, she knew _they_ weren't coming back.

" _Lucy! Watch out!"_ Gray shouted from the other side of the guild hall – much smaller and rattier than the one they'd left behind. She turned to see Natsu's back, blurred to multiples she couldn't count, hurtling towards her with alarming speed, an icy trail in his wake.

She screamed something unintelligible as she tried to drunkenly throw herself out of the way in time. Natsu landed with a crash, taking her slow legs, and what was left of the rickety bench she'd been sitting on, with him.

They ended up half under the surprisingly intact table, a tangle of limbs and broken wooden pieces. Natsu's head was wedged under her armpit, and she heard a muffled, "Sorry, Luce."

She sighed, "It's ok," and began wriggling away from the all too welcome press of his body.

She took to her feet unsteadily, gripping the table for support with one hand while she brushed the debris from her clothes with the other, silently thanking the heavens that she hadn't worn a skirt that day. Natsu scrambled out from the mess he'd made to stand beside her, forehead creased in confusion.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked openly, head tilting to the side the way it always did when he was trying to figure something out.

Her lips pursed in the ghost of a smile as she shook her head. "No," she lied. There were so many things bothering her, so many things she could've mentioned besides… _that one,_ but she just couldn't bring herself to open up to him, to expose herself, with this unfamiliar secret festering behind all the other woes. Her drunkenness didn't help matters – how could she be certain that it wouldn't all coming rushing out, word-vomit style, once she started? No, it was better to stay silent.

Natsu's face split into his signature grin. "Oh, good. Cause usually you freak out when we do stuff like that." He jerked a thumb at the ruined bench, almost hitting Gray, who had come up beside them, in the face.

"Watch it, flame brain!" the ice wizard barked, shoving Natsu's hand away.

Natsu immediately changed gears again. "You want a piece of me?"

"You wanna eat another bench?"

"So you like trying to hurt girls now? Guess you really are a pervert!"

"Is this bimbo trying to hurt my darling?" Juvia appeared, jealous glare narrowed on Lucy, whose mouth fell open at the insult and accusation.

" _He_ was the one who—"

"You will not take him from me!" the blue haired woman insisted, interrupting.

"I don't want _him!_ "

Though no one else had seemed to notice her error, her face flared in a brilliant blush. She tried to hide it by placing a faux-exasperated hand over her eyes, but the damn cat had caught it _of course._

"What does that mean, _Luuuuucy?"_ Happy crooned mercilessly, swooping down from overhead. "Does that mean you _like_ someone else?"

Juvia, to her credit, dropped the issue then and went to follow Gray as he and Natsu tumbled about the guildhall. Lucy shook her head in exasperation, stopping quickly when she realized it was making the room spin again. It was going to be difficult to get home like this.

"Are you _drunk_ , Lucy?" Happy plopped down on the table she was still using to support herself, looking up at her with big, innocent eyes. She wasn't known to indulge very often, preferring to spend her money on clothes rather than drinks she didn't like the taste of, but this was a special circumstance. Also, she was fairly sure Cana had paid for most of what she'd had that evening.

"Nope!" she replied, trying to sound chipper and normal. Happy wasn't fooled.

"Natsuuuuuu!" he cried, leaping into the air and extending his Exceed wings. "Lucy's _druuuuunk!_ "

She grabbed for his tail, but wasn't nearly fast enough to catch him, and she almost fell flat on her face trying to do so.

" _Natsuuuu!"_ Happy called again, this time more insistently, kicking his little feet at the shouting ball of fire and ice that was Natsu and Gray. Splitting apart long enough to send Gray flying into the nearest pillar, making a long vertical split in the wood, Natsu finally turned his attention to flying feline.

"What's up, little buddy?"

Lucy was doing her best to sneak across the guild hall before the damned cat could rat her out, though she was not nearly sober enough to do it gracefully, slamming into corners left and right, knowing she could add those to the bruises she'd already have from Natsu's bench-breaking stunt. She stifled a groan of relief when she finally made it out into the cool night air, which soothed the nausea that had surfaced when she decided to try walking.

Breathing deeply, her hand over her eyes to ease the dizziness, she didn't notice him until she was being lifted off her feet, one arm under her knees, the other cradling her head and shoulders to a partially bare chest that radiated heat. She let out a little yelp of surprise, feeling her face redden at Natsu's easy smile. "Come on, Luce. I'll take you home," he said softly, a slight rasp in his voice that usually only came out when he was really, _really_ worked up about something in a fight. She wondered why she would hear it now.

"I'm fine," she responded weakly, half-heartedly struggling to free herself as he started walking in the direction of her home. In truth, she didn't want him to stop holding her, and she knew she wouldn't make it home herself. _Maybe_ if she called one of her spirits, but she wasn't even sure she could focus her magic power enough to do that. "I can walk!" she insisted, knowing it wasn't true.

He laughed, gripping her a little tighter. "I saw how you _walked_ out of the guildhall just now."

"I…"

"And, I don't know why, but Mira was really _mad_ that you left I guess _._ She got that creepy, sweet look on her face that she always has just before she uses one of her she-devils, and went over and took away Cana's wine barrel. I didn't hear what she said to her, but even Guildarts looked a little freaked out! Ha ha!"

"Oh _no,_ " Lucy groaned, putting both hands over her face again. "Cana's gonna _kill_ me."

"Huh?"

"She's the one who got me so drunk, flame brain!"

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. "Ohhhhh. But why would she be mad?"

"I don't _know,_ maybe because I got her in trouble with the maternal she-demon?! Mira hates it when we try to drink underage!"

Natsu shook his head. "Ah, I bet she doesn't even remember it tomorrow!" He grinned, cheered by the thought.

"Yeah," she sighed, not so easily convinced, but comforted by his smile. She realized it was a dangerous sort of comfort, but that only made it more precious. There wouldn't be many moments like this in her life, she knew, so she'd have to take what she could get.

* * *

When Natsu returned to the guildhall after placing Lucy in her bed, Erza's sharp gaze caught his, the intensity making him fidget uncomfortably. "What's your problem?" he muttered as he made to walk by her to the table where Happy, Wendy, and Carla were sitting.

An iron hand on his arm stopped him. "I hope nothing _untoward_ happened when you took Lucy home. You were gone quite a while," Erza said, a scarlet eyebrow arching accusingly.

"Un-untoward?" Natsu stuttered, not entirely sure what she was trying to imply, but somewhat terrified by the steel in her eyes and voice. Erza usually looked like that when she was about to beat the shit out of something; he really didn't want to be that something.

"Yes. If you took advantage of her drunken state and damaged her honor in any—"

 _Oh._

"No!" Natsu interrupted, raising his hands in denial. "No, no, no, nothing like that!" He grinned in what he hoped was a reassuring way, knowing his face was turning red with embarrassment.

Erza was un-swayed. "Then what, exactly, took you so long?"

Sweat began to bead on the back of his neck as he tried to think of an excuse that didn't sound as lame as the truth. It didn't help that Erza's accusation had conjured up images of him and Lucy entangled _and_...

 _Agh! Stop thinking about her like that!_ he ordered himself, trying to turn his mind in a more savory direction.

"Well," he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck out of sheer awkwardness. "She… she asked me to stay and talk to her until she fell asleep. Something about Achnologia keeping her up at night. She said…"

 _You make me feel safe. That's what she said._ He didn't know why, but he didn't want to tell Erza that. He wanted to keep that secret, warm feeling it gave him for himself.

"…her mom used to tell her stories about her adventures as a wizard when she was a kid and she couldn't sleep," he continued, blush deepening as he focused his eyes on his feet. He just _knew_ Erza was going to laugh at him.

But she didn't. "What story did you tell her?" Her voice had softened, and, looking back up at her, he saw the ghost of a smile in the corners of her mouth.

"The time Happy and I had to rebuild a whole post office in Aster because we wrecked it chasing this mail thief," he grinned.

Erza's smile widened. "Mail thief?"

Natsu laughed. "Yeah, some weirdo kept stealing people's letters and replacing them with letters that said something else. He liked chaos or something, I guess."

She breathed a light laugh. "Very well, I believe you." She released his arm, returning to the tea in front of her as if nothing had happened.

And he knew that he would regret it and he knew that it was stupid, but his mouth was asking before he could stop it: "Uh, Erza, why would you think that _I_ would ever…uhhh…dishonor Lucy?"

He watched her lips pull up in a slow smile, though she didn't look away from her tea. "Oh, I don't know. I'm probably just being overprotective."

Natsu knew that wasn't much of an answer, but it was better than a fist to the face, so he hurried away before she could change her mind.

* * *

 **Hi all!**

 **This is my first fanfic in a _long_ time, so I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! NaLu is just such a favorite pairing of mine, and I don't think there are enough really good fics (although there are a few) celebrating their relationship. Hopefully mine can join the other good ones, but we'll see :)**

 **Most of this will be off-canon, but they'll head to the grand magic games around chapter six, so some canon elements will enter the story then.**

 **I love feedback, even if it's criticism, so please leave me a review if you have any comments, questions, or concerns!**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Adrianne**


	2. Clairvoyance

**Chapter 2: Clairvoyance**

* * *

Lucy knew she'd been dreaming of him again, but the details were slipping away as she awoke, groggy and with a splitting headache. She felt crumpled and greasy having slept in yesterday's clothes, so she shuffled sleepily to the bathroom, shedding them as she went.

She turned on the tap in the bathtub, examining her reflection in the mirror over the sink as it filled up. She looked terrible – makeup smeared in dark circles around her eyes, her hair a tangled mess, dried drool coating one cheek, and a large bruise darkening her collarbone. She _really_ hoped she hadn't looked this bad last night when Natsu brought her home.

An hour later, clean and dressed and _starving,_ she made her way down to the guild hall, a large pair of sunglasses shielding her over-sensitive eyes. She walked inside to find it virtually empty, which was weird for the middle of the day. The only person she saw was Laxus, looking unusually sour.

Wary, she sat down at the bar a few stools away from him. He didn't even acknowledge her presence.

"So," she tried, in her most pleasant voice, "where is everyone?"

His eyes slid slowly from the bottom of the glass he'd been glaring at to meet hers. "Carnival," he snorted, as if he'd never heard such a silly word.

"There's a carnival in town? Huh, I didn't see anything on my way here."

Laxus grunted. "You wouldn't have. It's out by the west entrance."

At that, he turned back to his empty glass, and Lucy endured a few minutes of strained silence, trying to decide what to do next, when Mira came sweeping through a side door carrying an oblong, blue bottle. "Oh, hello, Lucy!" she chirped, cracking it open, and filling Laxus' glass with silvery liquid.

Lucy crinkled her nose at the smell. "What's that?"

Mira laughed as Laxus sipped at his drink, grimace deepening. "Patented hangover cure! Looks like you weren't the only one drinking last night!"

Laxus made a slight growling noise in the back of his throat at this statement, but didn't lower his cup from his mouth.

"Oh well, you know how persuasive Cana can be…" Lucy tried to laugh, like this was in any way the truth, but neither of her companions seemed to buy it.

"Uh huh," Mira agreed skeptically, "Do you need some of this?" She held up the bottle, the bright, flashy label making Lucy wince.

"Yeah, I guess…" She wasn't sure it looked entirely safe, but she wasn't enjoying this headache either.

Mira got another glass and poured a smaller amount than she had for Laxus. "It's better if you drink it all at once," she said sympathetically, watching Lucy raise it uncertainly towards her face.

Holding her nose like she had when she was a child forced to take medicine, she gulped down the frothy, light potion as quickly as she could. It tasted like soap and cold metal, and she gagged a little at the end, slamming her glass back on the bar. Laxus glanced at her over his own glass, looking rather impressed, before he followed her example and chugged down his own. Mira nodded approvingly at them both, taking away the empty cups.

Instantly, Lucy felt the heavy sickness that had been splitting her head and pulling at her limbs begin to lift. This stuff was amazing! She looked over at Laxus and saw that he, too, looked much improved.

"Wow, Mira!" Lucy exclaimed when she re-entered the room. "That stuff is awesome!"

The other wizard giggled. "Thank you, it's my own recipe!"

Lucy jumped up from the bar stool. "I feel so much better! I think I'll go find the others at the carnival!"

"Have fun!" Mira replied, smiling widely.

Lucy thought she heard Laxus say something as well, and turned back a moment at the guild hall door to see if he was talking to her, but his eyes were trained on Mira, who was going slightly pink under his gaze. Seeing Lucy looking, Mira gave a reassuring little wave, though her blush deepened.

 _Huh,_ Lucy thought, stepping out into the overcast daylight. _I wonder if something's going on there._ Personally, Lucy had always kind of assumed Laxus and Fried were getting it on behind closed doors, but maybe Fried's feelings were unrequited…

Lucy shook away the thought – it wasn't her business. And she wasn't going to give Mira any more encouragement to meddle in her love life by commenting on Mira's. After last time… _last time…_

 _Mira said that Natsu liked me._ She'd almost forgotten that incident, when Natsu told her he had something important to tell her, and, after Mira planted the ideas in her head, Lucy had thought that he was about to confess his feelings. She'd been so _terrified,_ but an excited sort of terrified, the kind that makes you wear your nicest dress and fix your hair the way he said it looked nice that one time… And then he'd just been looking for embarrassing pictures that probably didn't exist. Lucy had felt like such a fool.

 _Never again,_ she told herself as she walked toward Magnolia's west entrance. She knew that he would probably be there – Natsu and Happy never missed an opportunity for fun – but that didn't mean she had to hang out with them. She'd look for Levy instead, or maybe Wendy. Spend the day with someone sensible. Let Natsu get up to whatever he wants. She would cure herself with time and distance.

She heard the carnival before she saw it – a cacophony of laughter, voices, and music. When she finally got a good look, it was larger than she'd expected. A small village of colorful tents and games, with an unstable looking haunted house rising from the center of the chaos.

She paid the threadbare man at the entrance, taking a handful of tickets, and walked inside. The place was packed with Magnolia residents. She recognized the man from the fish market who she and Natsu had done a job for once (catching a rare fish they'd had to wrestle away from Happy) with his two daughters; they waved as she went by. Then she saw a couple and their seven-year-old son, for whom she, Natsu, Happy, Grey and Erza had fought a giant rabbit-monster to get the fertility plants it guarded because they were having trouble conceiving. She stopped to talk to the trio, and seeing how they glowed with happiness at the memory of finally being able to have a baby warmed her heart.

That was her favorite part of wizard missions. She got to help so many different types of people, and their gratitude, especially in Magnolia where the guild was known best, was always so uplifting. One of the reasons she'd taken to Natsu so quickly was because he so often refused the high rewards for which they selected their missions. He would eye the client's clothes, their home, their family, and just know if they couldn't really afford it. If they needed the money more than he and Lucy did. Sometimes it put them both in a foul mood, knowing they had no money for dinner that night and had to ration the jerky and dried fruit from their packs on the journey home, but usually it made them feel noble and generous.

Lucy asked him once why he did it, and he'd grinned and said, "I came to Fairy Tail with the clothes on my back and a tiny knapsack full of stuff I'd collected from the woods. The guild took care of me for years, made sure I had what I needed until I could get by on my own. It's just what Fairy Tail does, Luce." And she couldn't argue with that. They'd taken _her_ in, hadn't they? Fairy Tail had given her life meaning when it had none, love when there had only been loneliness.

She'd wondered over near a stand full of bizarre items and creatures, but quickly walked by when she saw the man working it eyeing her a bit too appreciatively. She was not about to have it out with some pervert in the middle of a carnival because he had the audacity to grab at her skirt. The guild's reputation was strained enough as it was, without ruining the whole carnival for everyone by summoning her spirits, and likely her rather destructive guild mates as well, to deal with a creep.

The next interesting tent she saw said, "Fortune Teller" on the front in large, mystical blue letters. Lucy had never had her fortune told before, so she ducked under the canvass flap and stepped inside. The tent was hazy and dim and reeked of incense and wine, and she seriously considered turning around and going back outside to the clear air. But the woman sitting in the center of the haze at a small, hexagonal table had caught sight of her and was gesturing her over.

"Hello, Lucy," she said in a mysterious lilt. Lucy sat down on an ottoman across from her, a smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth. Though the woman was draped in shawls and affecting a bizarre accent, Lucy still recognized—

"Cana?"

"Shhhh!" the woman muttered, dropping the accent and looking suspiciously over her shoulder. "Erza accidentally knocked out the other fortune teller, so I'm covering for her so we're not tossed out of the carnival!" she whispered.

"Wouldn't Erza be the only one kicked out?"

"Well, _I don't know_ , but it would look bad for the whole guild, okay?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, unable to refute that logic and sure that there would be more incidents before the end of the day if the whole guild was there. "So tell my fortune then, oh wise one."

Cana's wicked smile crinkled her eyes, the only part of her visible underneath the shawls and scarves she'd wrapped around her head, face, and shoulders in an effort to obscure her identity. "It's two tickets."

Lucy handed them over, grumbling a little that this would be free at the guild hall, and Cana began shuffling a deck of cards she'd produced from under the table. "So, immediate future, you think?"

"Sure."

"Cut the deck," Cana instructed, handing the cards to Lucy. "Now shuffle them a few more times." Lucy did so. "Okay, stop." Cana took back the deck and splayed the cards, telling Lucy to pick five and lay them left to right, face down, in the center of the table.

When she'd done that, Cana steepled her fingers, and gave a very convincing, mystical sigh, then turned over the first card, which depicted a pair of nude figures. "The lovers," Cana murmured, looking up at Lucy suspiciously. "You're in love?"

Lucy felt herself blushing, and was suddenly grateful for the dim haze of the room. "That can mean other things, can't it?" she contradicted, trying to keep the panicked squeak out of her voice.

"Sure, it can mean lust too. Are you _lusting_ for someone, Lucy?" Cana gave her a mocking little leer, and Lucy drew back, uncomfortable.

"Anything _else?_ "

Cana grinned, shaking her head. "The others aren't for us, I'm sure. You're blushing by the way."

Lucy gave her the dirtiest look she could muster as Cana turned the next card over; two figures holding golden cups dominated the picture.

"Ha! The two of cups." She met Lucy's eyes with an evil smirk. "Some call this the soulmate card."

Lucy heard the hitch in her own breathing as if from a distance, drawing back into a fantasy with bitter edges. _Soulmates. Natsu looking at her like she was everything he never knew he needed, like he was complete when they were together, like when they held each other…_

"The queen of swords." Cana had flipped the next card, and was staring dubiously at the depiction of an Erza-like woman on a throne. "Someone unexpected will help with their insight."

Lucy didn't know what that meant, and she was still half drifting through a soulmate fantasy when Cana moved on again.

The following card was of a man standing on what appeared to be a cliff. "The fool? Childlike innocence, new beginnings, hmmmm…" Cana drummed her fingers over her mouth for a moment before a thought seemed to come to her. " _Someone_ who has the childlike innocence of the fool. Someone who's trusting and fearless, who lives by his own morals. Mavis help you, Lucy." She shook her head, a pitying smile pulling at her mouth.

Lucy's heart was hammering at her ribcage now. This was a bad idea, a _very_ bad idea. Why did she let Cana tell her fortune? What was she thinking? Cana knew. She _knew._

The woman let out a breath of humorless laughter and flipped the final card. "The sun," Cana named the blazing orb in the center of the card. "A good—"

"—you say to me?" A garbled shout interrupted from directly outside the tent, right before a body came crashing through the ceiling, directly on top of the shrieking pair of women.

And Lucy just knew, by the shape and feel of him, that she'd been bowled over by Natsu for the second time in two days. He pushed himself off of them from the outside of the tent, yelling something unintelligible and presumably launching himself at whoever had made him fall into them in the first place, while Lucy and Cana crawled out of the tent's wreckage.

"I'm going to kill that little punk," Cana glowered as they stood up, cracking her knuckles and reaching for her battle cards.

Lucy finished dusting herself off before answering, taking a moment to gather her wits. By the time she turned to look at Natsu, having it out with Gajeel in the middle of the carnival, a certain armored redhead was stalking towards them, murder in her eyes. "No need," Lucy said, pointing towards the approaching Erza.

It wasn't pretty, and Lucy slipped off before it was even over, hoping to avoid any awkward summations Cana might want to make about the reading she'd given. Instead, she went to the Magnolia library. A good book was just what she needed right then.

* * *

 **Hi guys!**

 **Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I got a little excited and couldn't wait a full week to update, so yay early chapter! (Generally, this fic will be updated weekly.)**

 **Let me know what you all thought of the tarot scene! I dabble, but don't know very much about it, though I did a lot of research for this chapter. I just loved the idea of Cana using her cards to try to help Lucy out with her love life.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed and don't forget to follow/favorite/review/just send general good writing vibes my way :)**

 **All the good feels,**

 **Adrianne**


	3. Unspoken

**Chapter 3: Unspoken**

* * *

Natsu hadn't spoken to Lucy in three days; he'd barely even seen her. It seemed like every time he started heading over to say hi or ask her if she wanted to go fishing or on a mission with him and Happy, she was walking out the door, nose buried in a book. He'd asked Levy if something was wrong, but she said that's just the way bookworms are when they get their hands on a really good read. Natsu thought it probably had something to do with Lucy's dad. He knew she was still hurting over that.

He'd been wrestling with whether to give her space or make her talk to him about it, and had finally decided that maybe he wouldn't have to _make_ her talk if he got her alone. Maybe when it was just the two of them, she'd be willing to confide in him, since all the other times he'd seen her were in public. So after suggesting to Happy that he take Carla on another fishing date, he walked across town to Lucy's apartment.

He felt the strangest urge to use the door, but fought it. Lucy had told him once that she kind of liked that he came in through the window – it made her feel like she was in a movie, or something, even though she spent a lot of time yelling at him about it.

Gently jiggling open the window and slipping inside, he saw that Lucy's bright bedroom was empty, her book lying open on her pillow. Her scent was strong enough that he knew she was there, though, so, curious, he picked up the book. _The Serpents of Kelmora by Kenmu Zaleon,_ the cover read. He dropped the book back onto her pillow. Lucy had read this before, more than once, he knew. So why was she so immersed in it, now? Shouldn't she be investing her time and energy training to catch up from their seven year gap, rather than re-reading a novel?

A thumping noise and a feminine curse came from the other room, and Natsu skidded into the hall, looking for his partner. The bathroom door was wide open, and it was there that he found her, sprawled on the tile by her bathtub, surrounded by a puddle of water, her nude body only partially covered by her sodden towel.

A hot blush crept up Natsu's face, as he tried to avoid looking at things he knew Lucy wouldn't want him to, while simultaneously trying to ignore the fact that he _wanted_ to look and the implications of that. "L-lucy?" he stammered, cursing how much more awkward he was making the situation. "You okay?"

The blonde groaned, her head moving against the white ceramic floor in what might've been a nod, but really only caused a trickle of blood from an unseen wound to tinge the water around her pink. Natsu's instincts flared at the scent, and he was by her side in an instant, ignoring her nakedness.

Kneeling in the water, he pulled her upper body onto his lap, gingerly examining her head wound. It didn't look as bad as he'd expected; he thought she'd probably cut it on the corner of the sink as she went down. It was bleeding a fair amount though, and there was already a bruise blossoming around it, dark enough to be visible through her light hair. He would ask Wendy to take a look at it once he got Lucy cleaned up.

"Urgggmmmmm, Natsu," the girl grumbled. "I fell." Her wide brown eyes fluttered open, meeting his blearily.

A rough chuckle shook his chest. "I noticed, Luce." He brushed a few strands of damp hair out of her face, more pink than blonde from the blood, which made his chest clench unusually. _Head wounds bleed a lot,_ he reminded himself.

Lucy squirmed a bit in his arms, her hands coming up to assess the damage to her likely throbbing head. The movement alerted her to more than just her head wound, though, causing her hands to freeze against her hair. "I'm naked, aren't I?" she asked in a deceptively mild voice.

Natsu had to bite back a laugh. He _had_ arranged the towel so that it covered all of the parts that she would be most embarrassed about showing, but he'd known that she was going to be weird about it anyway. He studiously ignored the fact that his face had been tomato red a few moments ago.

"You have a towel," he pointed out helpfully, making Lucy groan again and throw a hand over her eyes.

"What are you even _doing_ here?" The whine in her voice made him smile. It was funny when she complained.

"Oh, I just thought I'd take an afternoon nap in your bed."

" _Natsu,"_ she growled, making him laugh again.

"Okay, okay, I was checkingon you." Lucy's lips pursed at this, like she was frustrated with him again, but she remained silent. "And good thing I did, right?" Natsu continued, grin widening.

He was referring to the fact that she'd hurt herself and obviously needed some help, but Lucy's little gasp and the way her eyes narrowed suggested that she thought he meant something else. Like that if he hadn't been there, he wouldn't have gotten to see her body like this. And maybe there had been something in his gaze, something he wasn't used to feeling that _had_ meant it that way.

No, Lucy was just being weird again.

"Can you please take me to my room so I can die of embarrassment now?"

He shook his head, grinning that signature grin of his as she tried to wriggle free of his arms to stand. "Not a chance, you'll kill me later when all your stuff is stained!"

" _Natsu,_ " she whined, drawing his name out in a way that always made him concede to her demands.

" _Alright."_ Picking her up the way he had the other night when she'd been drunk and using his teeth to grab a clean towel from the rack on the wall, he carried her, dripping, back to her bedroom. Though it was awkward while holding Lucy, he managed to spread out the new towel enough on her bed that he could lay her on top of it.

She looked up at him from this position with equal parts guilt and tenderness. "You're all wet and bloody now, too…"

"Hey, why was there water all over your floor, anyway?" Natsu changed topics, not wanting her to feel bad about something stupid like that.

Lucy's frown deepened. "I think my tub's leaking. I need to go talk to my land lady as soon as I'm cleaned up."

"Well, the sooner the better, right?" Natsu announced cheerily, dashing back to the bathroom for more towels, and tossing two more on top of her.

"Don't you need to dry off, too?" she laughed, pushing one of the towels off her face and starting to gingerly dab at her hair.

Natsu's face turned mischievous, as his hands met in front of his stomach in a pose that meant he was about to use magic. Before she could stop him, he'd released a blast of heat that had completely dried his clothes and hair. Lucy had to clutch at her towel to keep it from flying off her, as she, too, was baked dry.

The glare she gave him as she tried to smooth her now rather frizzy and bloodstained hair was murderous. " _What?_ You wanted to be dry, right?" he cackled, unabashed.

* * *

Lucy was more than a little woozy by the time she stumbled into the guild hall, Natsu's arm around her waist keeping her upright. " _Wendy!_ We need you!" Natsu hollered, scooping Lucy up under the knees and hopping across the guild hall tabletops until he reached the young dragon slayer.

Wendy, who had been playing checkers with Mira, looked utterly flustered at the blood-slick matt of blonde hair Natsu was lowering toward her for examination. "Take her to the back room, Natsu!" Mira commanded impatiently.

Natsu did as he was told, carrying Lucy, who was murmuring about Mira's hangover cures, to one of the cots in the cramped pseudo-infirmary they'd set up in the "new" guild hall. "Sorry," he said over his shoulder to Wendy and Mira, who had rushed in behind him, "we would've been here quicker, but Lucy wouldn't let me carry her."

Wendy's face was tight with concern, but she shook her head confidently. "No, it's okay. I can fix this, no problem."

"What _happened?_ " Mira squeaked as Wendy lifted away the sodden washcloth Lucy had been holding to her head, revealing the oozing cut.

Natsu's laugh came out a little strangled, as he noticed he was clutching Lucy's hand on the edge of the cot. "Weirdo broke her bathtub and slipped and hit her head," he summarized casually, trying to disguise how he gradually withdrew his hand to rest at his side.

He wasn't sure if Mira had seen, because she looked even more confused than before. "You were with her when this happened?"

"No, I was waiting for her in her bedroom."

Mira's eyes widened significantly, and he didn't understand precisely why, but he had a sneaking suspicion that her mind was in the gutter.

"Her bed is really comfortable," he tried to clarify, though as soon as he'd said it he knew he hadn't helped the situation. "I mean, I sleep there a lot." He kicked himself again. God, he was an idiot. "No, I mean, I was just checking up on her because she's been down lately!" He finally managed to say something useful, and Mira's growing smile deflated a little.

"Okay, I healed her, but she needs rest to replenish the blood she lost," Wendy interrupted before Mira could respond, shooting a pointed glance at Natsu.

"What? _I'm_ not bothering anybody!"

The perky, take-over mage huffed exasperatedly and exited the room, a chorus of requests echoing from the main hall when she resumed her post behind the bar.

Natsu, cheeks still a little pink from his conversation with Mira, slid into the seat Wendy had vacated. "I'll just keep an eye on her until she wakes up…you know, make sure nobody bothers her…" he trailed off, eyes on the floor.

Wendy smiled her approval, leaving him to his thoughts.

Lucy was snoring softly on the cot, and he found himself sliding his hand back into hers, intertwining their fingers.

"You're such a pain," he murmured fondly, stroking his thumb back and forth across her guild mark. Enfolded in his, her hand looked so small and pale, but he knew it was strong and capable, just like the rest of her. She'd refuse help when she needed it most, ask for help when she didn't, and complain _constantly –_ she was ridiculous, maddening, impossible. The corners of his mouth curled ever so slightly. _Extraordinary._

He remembered when she'd saved Loke, forcing the spirit king to let him rejoin the others, how she'd come back exhausted, breathless, and _triumphant._ She'd been grinning from ear-to-ear, and Natsu had felt an unfamiliar pride blossom in his chest. It wasn't the same kind that he had for himself or his other guildmates – it was a special feeling he reserved only for her. He felt it almost all the time now, whenever she beat Gray at chess, or learned a new move training with her spirits, or delivered a really great comeback. Sometimes even when she just smiled at him. She'd always had a glow, but it had been growing steadily brighter, until it was almost all he could see. Lucy, shining from across the room. She never believed him when he told her what a powerhouse she was becoming, but he knew. He could _see._

She stirred against the cot, her forehead creasing and pulling her soft expression into a frown. His name, light and airy, like a question, slipped across her lips, and it pulled at something in his center. A dull ache he didn't understand.

"Go back to sleep, Luce. You're safe," he replied, though he didn't think she was actually awake, just muttering in her sleep.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when he realized whatever she was dreaming about, he was a part of it. Even in her subconscious, he had her back.

It was unusual for Natsu to remain still and/or silent for any length of time, but that afternoon he spent several hours sitting in the infirmary, waiting for his partner to wake up.

* * *

 **Thanks for being there, on the other side of the screen, reading something I wrote and hopefully enjoying it. Knowing that you exist heartens me :)**

 **-Adrianne**


	4. Companion

**Chapter 4: Companion**

* * *

Lucy's suitcase was heavier than she'd expected. _Shouldn't have packed those extra books,_ she thought, considering going back to return them to her apartment. But no, she needed the books to keep her distracted. They were heading to the Grand Magic Games at Fiore's capital, Crocus, and no matter where they went, travelling always meant sharing a room, or a tent, or a corner with Natsu and Happy. And she couldn't trust herself around either of them at this point – the former for obvious reasons, and the latter because he never failed to catch her in an embarrassing moment and tease her mercilessly. The only saving grace was that Happy really didn't understand much about human longing, so the lingering looks and heavy sighs didn't register with him. Unless, of course, there were fish around, in which case he'd assume Lucy wanted one and commiserate.

The side of Lucy's mouth twitched as she made her way down to the street, remembering that saying about all the fish in the sea. _But there's only one that I –_

"Arghhh!" she yelped in surprise as someone jerked the handle of her suitcase away from her. Whipping around, Scorpio's key ready in her hand to deal with whatever creep was trying to rob her, Lucy connected a well-placed kick to the groin of—

"Loke?!" she sputtered, returning the key to her belt and rushing over to check if he was okay. The celestial spirit was bent in half, leaning on her suitcase for support and groaning softly. Lucy was actually kind of surprised that his anatomy down there was human-like enough that a hit could render him so useless, but then he _was_ in his human guise – shaggy, orange hair shorter than usual and a t-shirt under an army green jacket, rather than his standard, sharp suit – so maybe that made a difference.

"Sweetheart, you have to stop reacting this way when—"

"No, _you_ have to stop sneaking up on me! I didn't summon you, and I don't need your help!" She was a little harsher than she'd meant to be, but she hated it when he called her things like that.

"Ugh, so cruel," he replied, straightening a little and giving her a pained sort of smile.

She crossed her arms, sinking into a hip. "Why are you _here_ , Loke?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, brushing past her in the direction of the guild hall, her suitcase dragging behind. She fell into step beside him with a huff. "Well?"

" _I'm here,"_ he began sharply, "Because you haven't summoned anyone in a month, and when I dropped by to see Gray the other day, he told me—"

"Ohmygod," Lucy interrupted, stopping in her tracks. "The seven years! I'm so sorry! I didn't even consider what that must have been like for all of—"

"No, Lucy, it's okay—"

"I'm still reeling from all this. The guild is in shambles—"

"It really wasn't long for us. We're just worried about—"

"—and my father died while we were gone, and _Natsu—"_

"You, and I came to… Wait, what did Natsu do?"

Lucy's face flushed a brilliant red and she quickly started walking again in an attempt to hide it. "What do you mean?" she responded innocently.

Loke kept stride with her. "You just said…" he trailed off, then shook his head, giving her a bemused smile. She shot a false grin back at him.

"You don't seem like you're coping, Luce."

The comment was soft, but it took the air out of her, and she almost stumbled on the cobblestones. "I am!" she insisted hurriedly.

Loke's glasses flashed in the morning sunlight as he gave her an unimpressed look. "Gray told me you got massively drunk the other day. That's not like you."

"Cana kept buying me drinks! What was I supposed to do?"

"And that you got a nasty headwound from a _bathtub—_ "

"It was the _sink,_ actually."

"—and that while everyone else has been training, trying to catch up for lost time, _you_ haven't trained once."

"That's not fair—"

"It's the truth, though"—he spun around, stopping her so they were face to face—"isn't it?"

Lucy faltered, feeling far too exposed meeting his dark, piercing eyes.

"I…yes…it's true."

Loke's gaze softened and he turned, slinging his free arm around her shoulders and pulling her along beside him. "And now something's wrong with you and Natsu, too?"

Lucy felt tears welling up in her eyes. She'd wanted to talk to someone about all of this so badly, but hadn't been able to find the words, hadn't been able to admit that, unlike the others, she couldn't just carry on, business as usual. It felt weak and ungrateful to be so devastated when everyone else seemed overjoyed.

"Yes, but it's not his fault. It's me," she murmured, swiping at her eyes with the back of hand. "It's all me."

"What happened?" Loke probed gently, and his soft voice reminded her of all the flirting that he'd done over the years. Was he really the right person for her to be talking to about falling in love with her best friend?

"I…" She glanced up at him searchingly, and though their faces were rather close, and he could've turned towards her and tried to make it some sort of charged moment, he didn't. He simply squeezed her shoulders reassuringly and waited for her to speak. So she did.

"I'm not the same as I was before we went to Tenrou Island and my relationship with Natsu is changing because of it and it scares me because I don't want to lose anything else," she blurted in a mad rush.

She expected him to gawk or laugh at her, but he didn't. Instead, they walked in silence for several long moments as he furrowed his brow, considering what she'd said. Finally, he murmured, "What makes you think you're going to lose him?"

That answer was easy. "Because for my entire life, the people I love have constantly been slipping away from me. Why should he be any different?"

Loke laughed then, low and breathy. "When has Natsu _ever_ been like everyone else?"

That elicited a small smile from her. He was right, of course. Natsu was unlike anyone she'd ever known. That was one of the reasons she'd taken to him so quickly in the beginning.

"He loves you, Luce. You know that, right?"

She sucked in a sharp breath, but didn't respond. They were less then a block from the guildhall now, and she was beginning to worry about running across one of her friends. And she had no idea what to say to that. She _did_ know he loved her, but he loved all of his guildmates, his family; she wasn't special.

"I don't know if it's the way you want him to, but he would do anything for you. Anyone can see that."

"The way I want…?"

Loke shot her a surprisingly tender look. "You finally realized you're in love with him." It wasn't a question.

"You… _knew?_ For how long?"

His smiled widened when she didn't try to deny it. "Since Virgo told me about you going over a waterfall with him."

"That was…almost a _year_ before…" She swallowed thickly, trying to recall what impulse had driven her to throw herself after Natsu, to cling to him through the white water.

Loke merely nodded knowingly.

They rounded a corner and the guildhall came into view. Lucy winced when she saw the large crowd of her guildmates gathering there, wary of their probing eyes. Sensing her discomfort, Loke pulled her back behind the cover of the building they'd just passed.

"Well, this is my stop."

"You don't have to—"

He waved her off. "I saw the rest of them yesterday when I stopped by. No need to bring unnecessary attention to you."

Lucy sighed in relief, slumping back against the brick wall behind her. "Thank you, Loke. You…you won't say anything?"

"I never have, have I?" He smiled, leaning down to slip an arm around her waist and pull her into him. She relaxed into the hug, pressing her face into the crook of his neck, letting herself feel utterly supported for a few brief moments.

"You can always talk to me, Luce," he murmured into her hair. "You can talk to any of us. We all worry about you and want you to be happy." He was referring to the celestial spirits. "But especially me."

Lucy was surprised when a small, choked sob escaped her, muffled in his shoulder. "It's all been so hard, Loke. I always thought I would get to reconcile with my father some day, and now he's _gone_ and I missed my chance. It was taken from me by that dragon. Seven years _stolen_ from my life. And the worst part is that I can't even talk to Natsu about it because there's this weird tension that I have no idea how to deal with. We're not _us_ anymore, and I _hate it._ "

She was crying in earnest now, right there in the street. Loke held her tightly and stroked her hair, angling her into the building's shadow so his body shielded her from prying eyes. "I know, honey. I know." He didn't try to comfort her with empty platitudes or reassure her that everything would be okay; his reassurance was in his companionship and constancy. Every murmur or comb of his gentle fingers was a reminder that she wasn't alone, that she would always have her spirits, no matter what.

It only took a minute or so for her to still, but Loke let them stay that way until her breath had stopped shaking completely. Then, he drew back and offered her a handkerchief, which caused Lucy to start giggling as she mopped up the remnants of her tears and destroyed makeup with the soft, linen square.

"Why is that so funny?" His smile, though confused, was almost as wide as hers.

"It's just… _of course_ you have a handkerchief!"

He shook his head, still not understanding, but enjoying her mirth.

"How do I look?" she asked at last, having scrubbed at her face furiously for the past five minutes.

"Beautiful." He could barely tell that she'd been crying.

"Great! Do you want this"—she held up the mascara covered handkerchief—"back now or can I wash it for you?"

He took it from her and stuffed it back into his jacket pocket. "One less thing for you to worry about." She smiled gratefully, taking the handle of her suitcase from him and pulling it to her side.

"Thank you, Loke. I feel…" she paused, searching herself, "a lot better."

"Anytime. Listen, call me when you need me, or else I'll have to surprise you again." He pressed a quick, affectionate kiss to her forehead. Then, with a flash of starlight and the smell of rain on dry ground, he was gone.

Lucy squared her shoulders and set off to meet her friends, reeling from their conversation. If her spirits (who frankly were not usually the most perceptive bunch) had figured out she had feelings for Natsu, who _else_ had?

* * *

 **Hey guys,**

 **Sorry this is late. My husband and I decided to divorce, and everything just upended. I should have more time to write again shortly, however.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to follow/fav/review!**

 **Much love,**

 **Adrianne**


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